DIOSPYROS UDAIYANII ( EBENACEAE ) , A NEW SPECIES FROM WESTERN GHATS , INDIA

Diospyros udaiyanii, a new species from Kakkayam forest of Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats of Kerala, India is described and illustrated. It is closely allied to D. pilosiusculata G. Don. in its stunted habit, smaller, glabrous leaves and large broad 4 or 5 glabrous calyx lobes with long pedicel, the absence of tomentose hairs on twigs, petiole, pedicel, calyx and leaf margin. Introduction The genus Diospyros L. belonging to the family Ebenaceae is mostly confined to the tropics (Mabberley, 2008). A total of 607 species have so far been reported, of which ca 300 species occur in Asia and the Pacific area, 98 species in Madagascar and the Comoro Islands, 94 species in African Mainland, ca 100 species in America and 15 species in Australia (Wallinofer, 2001). In India, Diospyros is represented by 66 taxa, including five varieties (Singh, 2008). From the state of Kerala, Nayar et al. (2006) reported 34 taxa. During the course of floristic exploration along the evergreen forests of Kakkayam, Western Ghats of Kerala in South India, the authors collected some interesting specimens of Diospyros with one population of four trees and only one tree with flowers. The specimens were critically studied and compared with other described species from India and Sri Lanka, but none of them matched with the collected specimens. The closely related species to the collected specimen is D. pilosiusculata G. Don., an endemic species restricted to eastern India and found distributed in West Bengal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The collections being unmatched with any of the known species so far described hitherto (Wallinofer, 2001; Singh, 2008), it is described here as Diospyros udaiyanii sp. nov. The differences between the new species with the allied D. pilosiusculata are shown in Table 1. Diospyros udaiyanii P.S. Udayan, sp. nov. (Figs 1 & 2). Diagnosis: Diospyros udaiyanii can be distinguished from D. pilosiusculata for its smaller height, long pedicel, and bright yellow, globose hairy solitary fruits, absence of tomentose hairs on twigs, petiole, pedicel, calyx and leaf midrib and margin, smaller, glabrous leaves, and large broad 4 or 5 glabrous calyx lobes. Email: psudayan@rediffmail.com Corresponding author. Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Peechi 680 653, Thrissur, Kerala, India. Email: avraghu@kfri.res.in Indian Institute of Ayurveda and Integretative Medicines (I-AIM); Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT); No. 74/2, Jarakabande Kaval, Attur 560 064, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Department of Botany, University of Calicut 673635, Malappuram, Kerala, India.


Introduction
The genus Diospyros L. belonging to the family Ebenaceae is mostly confined to the tropics (Mabberley, 2008).A total of 607 species have so far been reported, of which ca 300 species occur in Asia and the Pacific area, 98 species in Madagascar and the Comoro Islands, 94 species in African Mainland, ca 100 species in America and 15 species in Australia (Wallinofer, 2001).In India, Diospyros is represented by 66 taxa, including five varieties (Singh, 2008).From the state of Kerala, Nayar et al. (2006) reported 34 taxa.
During the course of floristic exploration along the evergreen forests of Kakkayam, Western Ghats of Kerala in South India, the authors collected some interesting specimens of Diospyros with one population of four trees and only one tree with flowers.The specimens were critically studied and compared with other described species from India and Sri Lanka, but none of them matched with the collected specimens.The closely related species to the collected specimen is D. pilosiusculata G. Don., an endemic species restricted to eastern India and found distributed in West Bengal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.The collections being unmatched with any of the known species so far described hitherto (Wallinofer, 2001;Singh, 2008), it is described here as Diospyros udaiyanii sp.nov.The differences between the new species with the allied D. pilosiusculata are shown in Table 1.
Phenology: Flowering from January to June; fruiting from July to August.Etymology: The specific epithet of the new taxon is in honor of Dr. K. Udaiyan, Professor (Retd.),Department of Botany, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu for his valuable contributions to the fields of Microbiology, Taxonomy and Plant Pathology.
Distribution: So far known only from Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kakkayam forest (11º 33´ N, 75º 55´ E) in the Kozhikode District, Kerala, India.Only one population of the species with four trees were found, does not face any threat as it occurs within an elephant reserve (Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary).
Conservation status: Diospyros udaiyanii can be categorized as Near Threatened (NT) based upon IUCN (2012).